The Listening Gathering

Two years ago, en route to the Arkansas gathering, I decided that I would spend most of time my time listening. I was coming in late, not bringing much and figured I wouldn't have any major projects to deal with so I would sit and listen to what others had to say. Well Arkansas was full of mud and while I spent some time listening, it wasn't until this year that I got my listening gathering.

From formal councils to informal circles, I listened. Main Council. Shanti Sena Council. Hearing the message of the Hopi woman. Shitter digging parties. It was beautiful and I listened a lot. Seems like at this point in my life, listening is what I need to be doing.

The Gathering is Upon Us Once Again

The Rainbow Gathering is in full seed camp mode with all the rumors, panics, joy and excitement that brings. I have a blog dedicated to this year's gathering and since most of my thoughts are with the gathering just now, that's where I'm blogging. If you're into gatherings or just curious, come on over to my New Mexico Gathering Blog.

How much does the US Government spend on us?

By "Us" I mean the Rainbow Gathering. People often ask how much the US Government spends on the Rainbow gathering. From time to time when the feds really piss me off, I FOIA information. For those not in the know, FOIA - Freedom of Information Act, allows you to request copies of government information. Most branches of the federal government have a FOIA officer tasked with providing information. For a general overview on how to file your own request, visit this website.

Well this year in Wyoming, the feds pissed me off big time. So I made a couple of FOIA requests. I had meant to do more, but seemed to have run out of time. At any rate, the information I received is available on my website for your information and use in whatever legal battles you may be fighting. Both documents are large PDFs, so make sure you have the bandwidth to download them. Please download and distribute as you see fit.

Wyoming Court Costs - this only includes the special court the feds so thoughtfully set up for us in Farson and is by no means all the costs involved in trying cases arising from the gathering.

USFS Totals Expenses by Year

Enjoy!

Rainbow Gathering Black Hole

I'm back from the Rainbow Gathering in Wyoming - the black hole I disappeared into last month. The Gathering tends to be all consuming and this year was no different. Front Gate, the search for Garrett Bardin and the realities of Death Camp sucked up three weeks of my life and except for the loss of ten pounds of fat and the gain of one ounce of wisdom, I have nothing to show for it.

I created a blog just for this year's gathering a few months ago and it turns out to have been a hit - or at least that's what I was hearing on the land. Starting today, I'll be posting entries on my gathering experience over there. So if you haven't visited the Wyoming Gathering Blogspot, check it out today.

Gathering Fever

So it's that time of year again folks. Gathering fever has struck. I've created a new blog for the Wyoming Gathering, so check it out. A lot of the old family are going to be on hand to share 37 years of gathering wisdom before they loose their ability to get out on the land and gather with us.

So this year is the year to come home. For more information, visit Karin's Wyoming Gathering blog.

Gathering Magic

So Sunday was the first day we held the Rainbow Gathering 101 Back to Basics Circle.

We were small in number, but in true Rainbow Magic the San Diego version of Glowing Feather or Diamond Dave showed up and joined us. Now mind you, this man had never heard of Rainbow before (or open mikes for that matter), but he held hands with us as we circled, then let loose with some beautiful love and spirit filled poetry raps that would challenge the best the gathering has to offer and he was a 40 to 50 year old self professed virgin.

He sat with us in circle and shared thoughts and ideas in poetic rap format. Amazing. And very mystical. He apparently lives near the park and there's been a Rainbow Circle in that approximate location for over ten years and yet the first time he connected with us was to join the Back to Basics Circle.

My hope for Sunday's circle was to talk about the importance of non-tangible connections and energies in creating a safe, fun and meaningful gathering for everyone. To that end, I told a story from the last Wyoming gathering in 1994. A beautiful sister suggested that lots of people are more plugged into the Internet than the park and that I should make this story available electronically, so here goes.

The 1994 Wyoming gathering was in a beautiful bowl shaped meadow with a creek running through it. Unfortunately, there was no rain. And things got dry. Very dry. And the fire danger
rose. Family counciled on how to handle the situation. We talked a lot about root fires and evacuation routes and how to fight a fire. Not that fighting is very Rainbow, but sometimes... Fire patrol was in full force and 5 gallon buckets of water and shovels were the most commonly spoke about tools.

The general plan was that should a fire break out, those prepared to fight were going to put on boots, long pants and long protective shirts and head towards the fire with all the buckets, shoves and axes they could carry. Everyone else would evacuate into the meadow and follow the creek down hill and out of the area.

A few small fires erupted here and there but were always adjacent to a camp and were put out as fast as they started.

So one day I'm sitting in a Southern California family council and the call of fire rings out. We stop what we're doing and my friend and I run back to our tents. Put on our boots and jeans. We grab shovels and all the buckets we can find.

Then we head up the hill, which seems to be the way everyone was going. Things were a bit chaotic at first as first people were running up the hill along the trail, then turning back, then running up, then turning back. I later found out that there were some people who felt it was too dangerous for gatherers to fight a forest fire, but in the end that big loving beautiful rainbow can do attitude won out and we all charged up the hill.

This was not a little fire. This was a fire in dry trees. A real forest fire and I had never been near one before, let alone helped to put one out.

As we ran up the trail, there was a small tree and four or five old men with long grey hair and long grey beards dressed all in flowing white clothes holding their hands up to the sky. "Om for the wind to stop," they called out. "Om for the wind to stop."

My friend and I stopped, looked at each other and scoffed. We had a forest fire to fight, we didn't have time to Om. So we continued up the hill and joined the bucket brigade. Hundreds
of people passing five gallon buckets of water from the creek below up to the fire above. Some of them naked or next to naked. Others covered up a bit more. Sparks flying. Ash everywhere.

At some point after things were settling down a bit and the fire seemed to be somewhat contained, the Forest Service brought in a plane to drop fire retardant on the area that had
burned. I was able to get some great photos of the drop.

After that we just kept slinging the buckets full of water. Family came by with food and passed zu zus and water up and down the line. A beautiful magical crew came by and gave five minute
shoulder and neck massages - thank you beautiful family, it was wonderful.

And then it was over and we were drop dead exhausted and collapsed into bed. I didn't hear that night or the next, but at some point I heard that all the people in the know: family with experience in forest fires, the Forest Service resource people, and others that the only reason we, meaning family on the ground working our butts off, were able to contain the fire was because the wind, unexpectedly and unusually, died down.

Just some food for thought.

So join us every Sunday in April and May, 1 PM in Balboa Park at the usual place except for April 20th - the day of the huge Earth Fair and the huge drum circle by the Museum of Art.

As always, http://home.earthlink.net/~scrollinfo/

Be the peace you want to see in this world.

Rebirthing in Wyoming

We all know the annual gathering of the tribes of the Rainbow Family of Living Light is taking place in Wyoming this summer.

Many people have been commenting on the ways in which we have been failing to live up to the vision in recent years. Some of us have been talking locally in San Diego and we’re having weekly circles in April and May to try to at least bring our higher energy to Wyoming. In conversations with others across the country, I sense this feeling of wanting a time of rebirth is felt by many.

I hope to share some of the thoughts and ideas that come out of our local circles with people as this journey progresses; however, in the hopes of jump starting energy towards reclaiming our vision, I wanted to share a couple of thoughts.

At the last Wyoming gathering in 1994 (and many other gatherings circa the 1990s and earlier) a few kitchens served breakfast in Main Meadow to help focus our morning energy.

Communal breakfast in the meadow served many purposes including but not limited to:

• creating positive energy in the center of the gathering mid-morning,


• making it easy for people to find breakfast,


• providing an opportunity to meet and great with each other and share the Rainbow way,


• allowing camps and kitchens that need help that day with shitter digging, food preparation, or other activities to get volunteers with full bellies and immediately go off and do the work,


• connect people with workshops that are happening that day.

I believe it would go a long way to helping us rebirth our energy if a few kitchens would be willing to go back into the future and find ways to bring us all together in the morning. Of course it’s easy for me to say. But a couple of large pots of oatmeal in the morning and some granola served in a circle would go a long way to helping us raise our vibrational energy and uniting our camps.

On Talking to the Forest Service

Anarchists and the United States Forest Service (USFS) don't seem to get along. Not that this should surprise anyone. The USFS is a paramilitary operation and anarchists tend to refuse to take orders, object to organization and resist any strategy that includes following the party line.

So a group of anarchists I go camping with every summer have a long running feud with the USFS over the right of the people to peacefully assemble, permits, and guns. We support the first and oppose the last two. By the way, the use of the word "we" is always in question as some anarchists feel "we" implies representation - but I use it more rhetorically so don't be sidetracked by the use of the collective "we" to indicate some random group of people who may or may not attend gatherings.

The long running saga has many twists and turns but there's no room for a book here so I'll cut to the chase. Some gatherers have been dis-organizing a series of conference calls with the USFS mucky mucks - the current Undersecretary of the United States Department of Agriculture, Mark Rey, and some of the law enforcement staff that often include the number one honcho, John Twiss as well as an assortment of flunkies.

So in the crazy world of Usenet, Mailmain and other internet communciation tools, I sent my two cents around on the value, or lack thereof, of talking to the USFS about our differences and the Forest Service's escalating violence towards people camping in the woods.

So here's my two cents.

The greater the diversity of peoples that interact with the USFS, the better off everyone is and the stronger we all get. Each of the wonderful bellies in this world has unique ideas, concerns, and thoughts and it's important to share those with USFS and with each other.

I realize that talking today may change nothing in Wyoming or wherever we land in 2009. But I have faith that by 2072, the journey we are on now will still have Rainbows and a peace trail. Talking to people today about concerns, issues, ideas helps all of us better understand what we are doing and is creating the future we all want.

If you haven't participated in one of the conference calls, please plan on joining in on March 17. If you're at the gathering in Wyoming, make sure to stop by INFO and find out when the daily cooperations council happens and show up and listed to what people are saying - both those
who work for the USFS and those who don't.

Peace comes from love, openness and communication.

Create peace. Find ways to communicate with those whose opinions differ from yours.

Be the change you wish to see in this world.